Spanish Princess SNEAK PEEK

We’ve been working diligently to bring you insider information on the latest historical costume dramas coming to TV screens, and have we got a treat! We were honored to receive advance screeners of The Spanish Princess (2019) from Starz, and now we have to totally take back every snarky thing we said about it before.

IT’S SO GOOD, PEOPLE! YOU ARE GONNA LOVE IT!

First of all, the writing is amazeballs. Philippa fucking Gregory, no more — this is Philippa Super-Fine Gregory to us forever! The mastery of her prose shines through in this script, and her creative, insightful plot drives every minute of the story forward to new delights. You will not be disappointed when you watch as her feisty heroines and hearty heroes are put through their paces in blissfully exotic fashion. If you watch this and don’t end up wanting to BE Charlotte Hope’s scrappy Catherine of Aragon and DO Ruairi O’Connor’s hunky Henry Tudor, we just don’t know what’s wrong with you! Truly, who needs real history when you have a storyline this exciting? We are converts.

True love! Shagging! It’s the best!

Then there’s the costumes. Designer Phoebe De Gaye really outdoes herself with her attention to detail. We can’t get enough of her lush fabrics and rich colors. She particularly excels at accessorizing, and it all makes perfect sense for the characters and story. You’ll definitely understand why, for example, Catherine has to be barefoot or why her hair is flowing free and why her ladies-in-waiting wear so many head necklaces. In fact, it’s a key plot point that the Spanish women bring head necklaces to England and start a fashion trend, along with the windmill farthingale that would be so important in English fashion for the next century.

Lina de Cardonnes is bringing the look! Yaaaaas!

Everybody is on board the head-necklace train, & we are HERE FOR IT! Also, thank you, Phoebe De Gaye for explaining how Spain invented the windmill farthingale & how it’s related to Don Quixote. We’re always learning something!

A court physician told Catherine of Aragon that walking barefoot would cure her terrible plantar fasciitis, so whenever possible, she eschewed shoes. However, this actually made the problem worse, leading to pains that made her ask Henry to carry her around during the later part of their marriage. More than his desire for a son & heir, this burden weighed on their marriage.

We wish we could tell you more about The Spanish Princess because, wow, this is one of the finest historical costume productions we’ve seen on TV in YEARS. You are going to be really impressed — would we lie to you?!?!?!

Haha, that was a good one! I was quite confused for a while, thinking “huh…?” I couldn’t work it out and thought it was so strange… But I am in Australia where it’s the end of the 2nd now, so I had already moved on and forgotten all about April fools!